At The Bruery, Autumn Maple is a hefty ale with a modern twist. The brew is laced with autumn spices and includes a big dose of fresh roasted yams. Ground cinnamon graces the plate in this photo. (File photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Orange County Register/SCNG)

Autumn Maple is a popular beer that has been offered each fall at The Bruery, Placentia’s nationally famous craft brewery. (File photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Orange County Register/SCNG)

Autumn beers are a centuries-old tradition in Europe and America. Most local craft breweries offer variations on two principal styles. (File photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Orange County Register/SCNG)

Most local craft brewers are busy making fall beers now. Some have already been released; many others will make their way to tasting room taps by mid-October. (File photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Orange County Register/SCNG)

The craft beer industry has its seasonal imperatives, and now that fall is here that means many local tasting rooms will be offering their own interpretations of two kinds of brews that are traditionally associated with autumn, although they’re dramatically different from each other.

The original early 19th-century Oktoberfest style, also known as Märzen, was a strong beer that was started during the cool months. Märzen derives from März, the German word for March, which was the last month that this beer could safely be made in the days before modern refrigeration. (Brewing during late spring and summer months was inadvisable because warmer weather was conducive to bacterial infections.) Märzen was kept in cold storage all summer (a process called lagering), and it was brewed at a higher alcohol content, which helped it maintain its stability. In the fall, tradition dictated that last season’s final beer had to be consumed to make room for the new beer to be brewed. Good excuse for a party!

Märzen is an attractive-looking beer in the glass – it’s usually medium copper in color – and it’s a nice beer to drink when the weather is a little cooler. It’s slightly malty and full-bodied, with a hint of toastiness and a lingering sweetness that (if it’s well made) is perfectly balanced by the bitterness of the hops.

Since about 1990, Festbier (it’s often called Oktoberfestbier, although that designation can only be used by breweries in Munich) has largely replaced Marzën in Munich during the two-week Oktoberfest celebration. Lighter in color and body than Märzen, it’s only beginning to be explored by local craft breweries.

In the New World the autumnal beer was a hardier libation that reflected colonial America’s distinctive harvest and the bounty on hand. Since barley and other European brewing staples were often hard to come by, pumpkins, squash and other starchy, plentiful vegetables were employed in the fermentation process. Sometimes, corn and even apples were used.

It was a rustic process. A 19th-century historian listed the typical ingredients in a beer commonly made in Massachusetts around 1800: “malt, hops, dried pumpkin, dried apple parings and sometimes rye bran, birch twigs and other things.” (It’s the “other things” that scare me.)

Pumpkin and other kinds of squash gradually faded as a beer ingredient in the 19th century because grains and malts became more common, but they reappeared with the birth of the craft beer movement in the 1980s, when early experimenters such as Buffalo Bill’s Brewery in Hayward started selling pumpkin-flavored ale. At first the neocolonial beer tended to be intensely pumpkin-y, with plenty of spices – nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom — to ramp up the pumpkin pie association. But as the craft beer industry matured in this country and tastes evolved, many pumpkin- and squash-infused craft beers have become less sweet and more balanced, and some beer makers have moved on from ales to pumpkin lagers, stouts and porters.

In their own words, here’s what some local craft brewers are planning to roll out this fall.

All-American Ale Works

Jeff King, Owner/CEO: “All-American Ale Works is brewing two seasonal fall beers this year. Both are yet to be named. One is a golden milk stout brewed with lactose and flaked oats for a subtle sweetness and creamy mouth feel. We’ll be adding pumpkin pie spice and cold brewed coffee post-fermentation for our take on a pumpkin-spiced latte.

“We’re also brewing a maple pumpkin ale. This beer will start off as an amber-style beer with a heavy dose of darker crystal malts for a caramel or brown sugar flavor. We’ll use maple syrup to boost the ABV and add another layer to the final flavor. Finally, we’ll finish it off with pumpkin puree and spices. We expect to release them the week of October 16th.”

Barbara Gerovac, co-owner: “Anaheim Oktoberfest Lager is brewed according to a 100-year-old recipe in a traditional Bavarian style, copper-colored and strong, around 6.5 percent ABV (alcohol by volume). It has a rich, caramel maltiness balanced with a touch of German Hersbruecker hops, and a smooth, slightly toasty finish.

“Anaheim Oktoberfest Label – Kevin Kidney designed the bottle label with 1970’s vibe, as it was only in the 1970s that Oktoberfest began to be celebrated outside of Munich. His design combines iconic Munich landmarks – the twin domes of the Frauenkirch and the Neues Rathaus with the little Muncher Kindl atop its spire – with the diamond pattern of the Bavarian flag.”

Bob Weden, Cellar/Assistant: “We currently have an Oktoberfest that comes in at 6 percent ABV. We used German malts and hops for this beer and it’s about as traditional as you can get.

“I’m also about to release a Wee Heavy Scotch Ale that is bittered with heather flower. I used a two-hour boil and lower fermentation temperatures to bring a super-smooth mouth feel. With notes of caramel and toffee and an ever-so-slight floral/tea-like flavor from the heather, this beer clocks in at 8.3 percent ABV. It is also a very traditional beer and serves as a love letter to my wife, Heather, who busts her butt at her job so I can afford to work in beer. I call it Amongst The Gael Heather Ale. The name comes from a Robert Louis Stevenson poem called ‘Heather Ale: A Galloway Legend.'”

Joel Kennedy, retail marketing manager: “Autumn Maple has been popular for several years. It’s a bit of a twist on what a lot of brewers do for an autumnal beer. Instead of using pumpkins, we use yams. We have a penchant for them; they have a little more sugar, and you can get a lot more character from them through caramelizing. We also use a lot of spices and flavors to enhance the taste profile of Autumn Maple, including cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla and maple syrup. At 9 percent ABV, it’s classified as a Belgian strong ale.

“This year, The Bruery is offering a variation on the theme called Midnight Autumn Maple. It’s an imperial stout version of that has a lot of the same spices as the regular Autumn Maple and a ton of yams. But we brewed it with midnight wheat which turns it dark and gives it a stout-like character.”

Deven Dufresne, Director of Operations: “In our taproom we are currently pouring The Leaves Aren’t Changing, which is a traditional Oktoberfest Lager (5.2 percent ABV). Customers can order it served in their own 4Sons-branded half-liter Das Boot that entitles them to discounted refills during September and October.

“By mid-to-end October we will be releasing Up On The Rooftop, a holiday Doppelbock, on tap. It’s a dark, rich and malty German Lager flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. We will also offer three different bottle releases, the original Up On The Rooftop and two barrel-aged variants. One was aged for 12 months in Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels, the other was aged for 12 months in Heaven Hill rye whiskey barrels.”

Evan Price, Co-Owner/Brewer: “We made a festbier called Impossible Germany that we’ll be releasing by early October. Our festbier is a collaboration with Firestone Walker. It’s made with all German ingredients; one-third of the batch has been lagering in Firestone Walker Union Barrels in our cold room for the last six weeks and will be blended with the rest of the batch that was lagering in stainless steel.”

Amanda Pearce, Operations Director: “For fall, we have Stereo Oktoberfest, a Vienna-Style Lager at 5.0 percent ABV. It has a caramel flavor with hits of malt and a medium to light body. We will be releasing it at our Year 1 Party on Oct. 14th.”

Angel City Imperial Oktoberfest is an über version of a traditional German-style Märzen. Beneath its deep copper appearance is a malt-forward flavor filled with caramel and toffee notes. A lengthy cold-lagered fermentation provides this big beer with an incredibly smooth taste and full mouthfeel.

Oktoberfest Fall Lager is now available at the Hangar 24 Tap Room in Redlands and in select retail stores. It’s brewed in Reinheitsgebot tradition, using imported German malt and hops and a German lager yeast strain. The floral and citrus hints blend nicely with aromas of toasted bread and pretzels. Oktoberfest Fall Lager pairs nicely with roast chicken, pork or German sausages. It also complements hearty breads, dumplings and sharp Munster or Dutch fontina cheeses.

Oktoberfest Festbier has a balanced mouthfeel and medium body that result in a full malty, sweet flavor with a fresh, noble, hop bitterness. Fermentation is completed with a lager yeast, creating a clean and crisp flavor profile that improves with cold aging until release.
ABV: 6.0 percent.

Brewmaster Jason Kolb is offering three fall beers. He’s particularly proud of his roggenbier. “Not too many other places make that,” he said. He tried a pumpkin-spice beer last year but decided to concentrate on German beers this time around. His three fall beers:

Hef Way There, a Hefeweizen with a banana aroma, lemon notes and a creamy mouth feel. 5.1 percent ABV.

Paul D. Hodgins has worked at the Orange County Register since 1993. He spent more than two decades as the Register’s theater critic, and for eight years he wrote about dance as well. Hodgins has also written for American Theatre, Variety, The Sondheim Review and Backstage West. He was the principal classical musicr. Hodgins has also been active as an educator and scholar. He was the music director of the dance department at The University of California, Irvine from 1985-92 and served in similar positions at Eastern Michigan University, Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University and the Banff Centre for the Arts. His book about relationships between music and choreography, Music, Movement and Metaphor, was published in 1992. Since 2001 Hodgins has taught arts and entertainment journalism at California State University, Fullerton. Hodgins holds a doctorate in musical composition and theory from the University of Southern California. He lives in Huntington Beach.

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